Cory Booker

Cory Booker (27 April 1969-) was a member of the US Senate from New Jersey (D) from 31 October 2013, succeeding Jeffrey Chiesa. He had previously served as Mayor of Newark from 1 July 2006 to 31 October 2013, succeeding Sharpe James and preceding Luis A. Quintana.

Biography
Cory Booker was born in Washington DC on 27 April 1969, and he was raised in Harrington Park, New Jersey. He played college football at Stanford University while studying sociology, and he later studied abroad at the University of Oxford on a Rhodes scholarship before attending Yale Law School. From 1998 to 2002, he served on the city council of Newark, and he was elected Mayor of Newark in 2006 as a Democratic Party candidate. He doubled the amount of affordable housing under development and reduced the city's budget deficit from $180 million to $73 million. He was re-elected in 2010, and although he failed to meaningfully revitalize Newark's economy during his second term in office, his personal involvement in public service earned him a national presence. In 2013, he was elected to the US Senate via special election, becoming the first African-American senator from New Jersey. Booker was a leading voice in bipartisanship, as he was a political moderate (fiscally conservative and socially progressive) and neoliberal and a member of the "New Democrats". He supported women's rights, affirmative action, and single-payer healthcare, and he opposed US interventions in Afghanistan and Syria.